Smoke-consumer.



D. H. COWHERD.

SMOKE CONSUMER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 16

Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

3 SHEET8-SHEET 1.

Wiimeooeo Gftowzqo COLUMB'IA PLANOORAPH C0.,WASHINGTON. n. c,

D. H. OOWHERD.

SMOKE CONSUMER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.16, 1913.

Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

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DOUGLAS I-I. COWHERD, 0F LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.-

SMOKE-CONSUMER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

Application filed January 16, 1913. Serial No. 742,508.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DOUGLAS H. Cow- HERD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county'of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Smoke-Consumers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appera tains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to furnaces, and the object of the same is to produce improved means actuated by the opening of the furnace door for turning on steam which is injected into the furnace in jets so as to burn the gases arising from fresh fuel, together with improved means automatically and tardily actuated for turning off the steam at a later time, after the door has been closed. These objects are carried out by constructing the device in the manner hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation of a furnace with a regulator for the smoke consumer attached, showing the front furnace wall partly broken away to illustrate one of the steam jets. vertical sectional view of the regulator, with the piston ascending. Fig. 3 is a similar section showing the parts in the position they assume when the piston is descending. Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevation of the regulator with its piston rod raised so that the parts stand in a different position from what they do in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the valve, the valve head, and the connection between the tubular valve stem and nipple, being taken about on the line 55 of Fig. 6; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross section on the line 66 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the regulator, being a section on about the line -7 of Fig. 4:. Fig. 8 is a perspective detail of the lower head of the guide. Fig. 9 is a front elevation of a furnace and its smoke stack, partly broken away, showing the application thereto of a slightly amplified form of my invention. Fig. 10 is an elevation taken from the right side of Fig. 9, partly in section. Fig. 11 is a sectional detail on the line 1111 of Fig. 9.

In the drawings the letter F designates a furnace having the usual doors D, and the Fig. 2 is an enlarged central letter S is a steam pipe leading through a valve V to a number of jets J within the furnace by means of which steam may be admitted to the interior thereof to consume the gases in the smoke when the door or doors are open. It is at this time that the fire is usually stoked by feeding fuel through said doors, with the result that heavy masses of smoke are generated which escape through the door-openings into the face of the stoker, and even after the doors are closed the fire needs extra draft and heat to consume the gases in this smokehence the advisability of jetting steam into the furnace at this time.

My invention is a controller or regulator connected with the furnace door whereby the steam is turned on immediately when the door is opened, but is shut off tardily after the door is closed, with the result that the extra draft is set up before the stoker can feed any fuel into the furnace but is not cut ofi until the fuel thus fed in has become thoroughly ignited.

Coming now to the details of the present invention, the numeral 1 designates an up right cylinder having ears or the like, 2, by

means of which it is secured to any suitable upright support alongside the furnace, or possibly to. the furnace wall, 3 is its lower head which is closed, and 4 is its upper head pierced with a centralopening for the passage of the tubular piston rod 5 on which, above the upper head 4, is mounted a weight 6 adapted to be set by means of a set screw 7, and on which rod above the weight 6 is also secured a loop 8 which is spaced a little distance from the weight for a purpose to appear hereinafter. A cord, rope or chain 9 leads from this loop up over a pulley 10 and downward to a weight 11, and a second cord or chain 12 leads from the door D over a suitable pulley 13 to the same weight 11. It follows that when the door is opened the chain 12 is slackened so that the weight 11 descends, and draws on the chain 9 and raises the piston rod 5. The stem of the valve V carries a lever 14 which is provided with a fork 15 that stands astride the piston rod 5 between the weight 6 and the loop 8, and therefore when the weight 11 descends the fork 15 is elevated and the valve is opened, but when the weight 11 is raised by the closing of the door the chain 9 is slackened so that the lever 14: may descend and the valve V will be closed.

The piston is an annular or ring-shaped member 20 carrying suitable packing such as the leathers 21 and 22, and the ring is provided in its upper end with a valve-seat 23. The lower end of the piston rod 5 has a coupling 2 1 adapted to engage a threaded nipple 25 at the upper end of a guide whose body is substantially cross-shaped and composed of about four radial longi tudinal wings 26 of a size to move freely through the ring-shaped piston 20. The upper end of the guide where it merges into the nipple is enlarged and made solid so as to produce a valve 27 adapted to close against said seat 23, and the lower head 28 of said guide is removably attached to its lower end by means of a screw 29. Finally a port 30 opens through one side of the nipple 25, into its threaded bore 31, extends downward from the lower end of the same as at 32, and opens out laterally between two of the wings as at 33. It follows that when this guide is moved upward its lower head 28 slides the piston upward, and the liquid contained within the cylinder 1 is permitted to pass under the enlargement constituting the valve, between the wings 26, through the bore of the piston, and past the lower head 28 into the lower end of the cylinder; but when the piston rod and guide are depressed, the valve head 27 is closed upon the seat 23 and the entire piston is pushed slowly down throughout the length of the cylinder 1 by reason of the friction of the leathers 21 on the interior of the latter, so that the only escape for the liquid within the cylinder is through the port 30. There- ".fore the piston may be raised quickly and easily as it is by means of the weight 11 which descends when the door D is opened, but the piston descends more deliberately under the influence of the weight 6 when the weight 11 has been raised by the closing of the door. These actions of the piston are communicated through the lever 141 to the valve V with the result above indicated.

For adjusting the size of the port and hence regulating the speed at which the weight 6 may depress the piston, the thread ed lowerend 40 of an adjusting rod 41 is screwed into the threaded bore 31 of the nipple 25, and this rod extends upward loosely throughout the length of the tubular piston rod 5 and is knurled at its upper end at 42 which is exposed within the loop 8. It is possible, therefore, for the opera tor to grasp the knurled end of the rod and turn it so that its threaded lower end 40 is screwed more or less deeply into the bore 31 of the nipple 25, and more or less obstructs and therefore reduces the size of the port 30.

The liquid which I prefer to use within the cylinder 1 is oil, or at least some liquid which is a little denser than water, and the same may be filled through a nipple 1 1 in the upper head 4. This nipple will also be left open as a vent for the cylinder, to prevent the o-il from working its way out around the piston rod.

This device can be thrown out of action at any time in a variety of waysfirst by cutting off the steam which normally flows through the pipe S, second by loosening the set screw 7 and dropping the weight 6 and resetting it so as to hold the piston at all times elevated and permit the valve V to remain at all times closed, and third by detaching the chain 12 from the furnace door. The size of the weight 11 must' of course be sufiicient to overcome'that of the Weight 6 and all parts attached to the piston rod.

The proportions, materials, and exact details of construction of the various parts are matters of no moment.

On sheet 3 of the drawings is shown an amplification of the idea hereinbefore described, wherein the smoke stack SS of the furnace is illustrated and broken away to disclose the usual damper SD therein, and the doors D are provided with air inlet openings AI closed by a special form of damper, and all dampers are controlled by this improved device. In the embodiment of my invention as illustrated, the shaft 50 of the outlet damper SD has a crank arm 51 upon it, and this arm is connected by a link 52 with the lever 14 above described. Also a second cord or chain 53 leads from the loop 8 upward over a pulley 54 and thence downward to a crank arm 55 which is fast on a rock shaft 56 journaled in suitable bearings 57 across the front of the furnace F. This rock shaft carries upon it a number of arms 58 corresponding with the number of doors D, and each arm carries at its outer end a plate 59 of a size and position to be thrown over the air inlet openings AI in said door when the arm stands elevated as seen in Fig. 9, although the rocking of the shaft will throw these arms outward and downward and with them the plates 59 so that the inlet openings AI are then uncovered as seen in Fig. 10.

In the normal position of parts and with the fire burning steadily, the connection between the link 52 and the crank arm 51 is so adjusted that the stack damper SD is partly closed and the inlet dampers are closed or nearly closed, the idea being that sufiicient air will be admitted to and exhausted from the furnace to keep the fire burning steadily without the draft becoming violent so that the heat rushes past the radiating surfaces unnecessarily. When now the furnace is to be stoked, the opening of the fire door throws open the damper plate 59 and permits the descent of the weight 11 so that the lever 14 rises, with the same results as described above. But the rise of the lever pushes upward on the link 52 and also opens the stack damper SD. There is now a violent draft inward through the door opening and outward through the stack, aided by the steam jet described above, and this draft is useful in consuming the gases in the smoke while the fireman stokes the furnace. Having done so, he closes the door D and leaves the damper plate 59 down as seen in Fig. 10, but the action of this device slowly restores this plate to the position shown in Fig. 9 and simultaneously slowly restores the stack damper SD to its position wherein the stack SS is nearly closed. It is my intention that the device be so timed that the parts shall be restored to this their normal position and the steam jets out off as soon as the fresh coal has become incandescent. If this amplification of my invention be employed, it does not necessarily follow that the details above described shall be used for carrying it out, as it is obvious that the air inlets and the stack dampers could be controlled by other forms of connection with the invention than those herein shown and described simply for purposes of illustration.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a smoke consumer, the combination with a furnace having a door, a jet within the furnace, a steam pipe leading to the jet, and a valve within said pipe; of means for closing the valve, stronger means for opening it, devices for overcoming the last-named means when the door is closed, an upright cylinder closed at its lower end, a ringshaped piston having a valve seat at its upper end, packing carried by the piston and fitting frictio-nally within the cylinder, a piston rod connected at its upper end with said first-named means and having at its lower end a valve head adapted to close against said seat on the descent of the piston and a restricted by-pass port around said head, and a guide below the valve passing loosely through said piston, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a smoke consumer, the combination with a furnace having a door, a jet within the furnace, a steam pipe leading to the jet and a valve within said pipe; of a relatively light weight connected with said valve for closing the latter, a relatively heavy weight connected with the valve for opening the latter, a chain connecting this weight with the furnace door for raising the weight when the door is closed, an upright cylinder closed at its lower end, a ring-shaped piston hav ing a valve seat at its upper end, packing carried by the piston and fitting frictionally Within the cylinder, a piston rod connected at its upper end with said light weight and having at its lower end a valve head adapted to close against said seat on the descent of the piston and a restricted by-pass port around said head, and a guide below the valve passing loosely through said piston, for the purpose set forth. 7

3. In a smoke ==c0nsumer, the combination with a furnace having a door, a jet within the furnace, a steam pipe leading to the jet, and a valve within said pipe; of a relatively light weight connected with said valve for closing the latter, a relatively heavy weight connected with the valve for opening the latter, a chain connecting this weight with the furnace door for raising the weight when the door is closed, an upright cylinder closed at its lower end, a ring-shaped piston having a valve seat at its upper end, packing carried by the piston and fitting frictionally within the cylinder, a piston rod connected at its upper end with said light weight and having at its lower end a valve head adapted to close against said seat on the descent of the piston and a restricted bypass port around said head, a guide secured below the valve and including crossed wings passing loosely through said piston, and a lower skeleton head detachably connected with the lower end of said guide and larger than the lower end of the opening in said ring-shaped piston, for the purpose set forth.

a The combination with an upright cylinder having a closed lower end, a piston rod movable through its upper end, and a coupling at the lower end of said rod; of a piston having a ring-shaped body with a valve-seat at its upper end, an open-Work guide movable through said piston and having a valve head at its upper end and a skeleton head at its lower end, and a nipple projecting above said valve head and engaging said coupling, the guide having a restricted by-pass port extending around said valve head, for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination with an upright cyl inder having a closed lower end, a tubular piston rod movable through its upper end, and a coupling at the lower end of said rod; of a piston having a ring-shaped body with a valve-seat at its upper end, an open-work guide movable through said piston and having a valve head at its upper end and a skeleton head at its lower end, an internally threaded nipple projecting above said valve head and engaging said coupling, the guide having a restricted by-pass port leading into the threaded bore of said nipple and from said bore downward to and opening at a point below said valve head, and an adjusting rod extending throughout said piston rod and screwed into said threaded bore, for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination with a fixed upright cylinder havinga closed lower end, a ringshaped piston movable therein with some friction and having a valve-seat at its upper end, a guide movably mounted through & 1,079,692

said piston and having wings at its lower end, avalve-head adapted to close upon said seat as the guide descends, and an internally threaded nipple rising from said head and providedwith a restricted by-pass port extending from its bore downward through the valve head and opening between said wings; of a tubular piston rod whose lower end incloses and is connected with said nipple, a loop inclosing the upper end of said rod, a chain attached to said loop and leadingto a remote point, means for drawing on said chain, and an adjusting rod extending throughout said piston rod and having its lower end screwed into the bore of said nipple and its upper end standing within said loop and knurled, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DOUGLAS H. COWHERD.

Witnesses:

J OHN M. KNADLER, L. L. CLOUD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

